Creative Educator offers articles, lesson plans, and resources for many different ways to put creativity into the curriculum. Explore four main topics: Creativity, Digital Storytelling, 21st Century Classrooms, and Project-based Learning. Curriculum related areas such as Literacy, English Language Aquisition, and Stem resources will grab your interest. Find a variety of lessons in Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies to integrate technology and pique students' interest.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Creative Educator, designed for teachers, helps you move past stale worksheets to get inspired! Be sure to look at this site to help you discover ways to integrate technology and creativity into lessons. Work with a partner to make the lessons fit in your situation. Share at staff meetings and offer new ideas. Look for ways to bring a new focus to your gifted students. Give as a resource to students, so they can choose a multimedia product to share the content knowledge they are learning.

Come to the Media History Digital Library to find digitized classic media periodicals available from the public domain. All of the collections pertain to the cinema, broadcasting, and sound. Periodicals such as Business Screen, Pictures and Story Magazine, Motion Picture Classics, and Radio Age have at least a five-year spread of content. Over 100 other periodicals are featured. When selecting a periodical, you may choose to read, download, or go directly to the site. Join the blog to discover recent additions, scholarship opportunities, events, and more.

In the Classroom

Use Media History Digital Library in your classroom as a secondary resource to discover the culture and setting of a time period while studying literature or even through history classes. List the clues and details that provide further information. Analyze the article use and its influence on society by using close reading techniques. In a multimedia class, discover the history and progression of cinema, broadcasting, and sound. Use to discover the influence of critical world events such as world wars, depressions, economic influences, an industrial revolution, and more. Analyze the artistic changes throughout time.

Wimp offers a wide variety of videos with family-friendly content. Browse through the site using a keyword search or choose categories such as popular, life, culture, learning, and more. Choose a video to read a short description and view. Videos are imported from many different locations such as Vimeo, YouTube, and individual websites. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.
Although the content is family friendly, this site contains comments that aren't monitored. If sharing with students, go to the direct link provided with each video for viewing without some of the distractions (and possibly inappropriate comments).This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Bookmark Wimp as a resource for finding videos for lessons and activities. Share the direct link to individual videos on your class website or blog. To remove the distracting advertisements on video sharing sites and more, use a tool such as SafeShareTV, reviewed here, and create a shortcut to the SafeShare page directly on the desktop.

Join the community designed to educate students and all learners in 21st century learning. The mission consists of building collaborative partnerships between education, businesses, government, and community leaders to promote learning skills needed in the 21st century for life, work, and citizenship. P21 strives to prepare all students for the challenges of the future. Find a framework for student outcomes with support system outlines. Resources for educators include sample lesson ideas, Common Core alignment, P21 Common Core Tool Kit, professional development guides, 21st century skill maps in a variety of subject areas, case studies of exemplar schools, a newsletter, and a Blogazine. Resources for policymakers include information on definitions, framework, and implementing 21st century skills. A parents' guide contains information on 21st century skills and leadership. Most downloadable materials are free. Get a press kit or join an advocacy group or mailing list.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Investigate P21 to see if you are meeting your students' needs for the 21st century. Use the parent tip sheet, real world examples, or the PowerPoint to clarify your goals to parents and administration. Explore literacy maps and skills maps to compare your methods of instruction. Look for ways to support professional development in your school. Become more effective using Common Core Curriculum. Join the blog and change your world. This site contains great research, ideas, and goals to include in grants, mission statements, or strategic planning.

This tool is a great lesson plan resource for correlating art with other curricular areas! Use the drop-down to choose a Primary Curricular Area (Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, or Social Studies). Then choose one of the Academic Art Standards: Aesthetic Response, Critical Response, Historical and Cultural Contexts, or Production, Performance, and Exhibition. Click the resulting lessons to view a PDF that includes artwork images linked to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Common Core standards, and a detailed lesson plan.

In the Classroom

Bookmark and save this site as a resource for art projects throughout the year, especially if budget cuts have taken away your art teacher! Use this site as a way to get students interested in art and its relationship with other subject areas and its relevance in our life.

Use Legos as learning tools with these great lesson plans and activities for several different topics. Learn about chemical reactions, photosynthesis, symmetry, and the Nile River through the use of Legos. In addition to lesson plans, many activities include worksheets and printables to support the learning activities. Just look down the middle of the landing page to find the topic you want. Although this site does have many distracting advertisements, the activities are worth exploring.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use ideas from this site to create learning centers or as a start for group projects. Include ideas from this site on your class webpage for students to complete at home. Have students upload a photo of a finished project and add voice bubbles to explain what they learned using a tool such as Superlame, reviewed here.

Make a collage of your images into a variety of shapes. Download the free program for Mac OS, Windows, Linux, iPhone, and iPad. Drag images into the window and choose the collage shape (heart, characters, animals, and more) or create and customize your own shape. Collages do not show the company watermark, and you can export them to Photoshop. Follow the demo video for tips and tricks.

In the Classroom

Use Shape Collage to take a variety of images to make a collage. Use this tool to create pages of class memories for the end of the year and create yearbook type effects easily. Since you can create and customize the shapes, this would be a great tool to represent a theme for any story, novel, or unit of study.

Markup and discuss images online with Marqueed. Drag and drop images from your computer or browser window, or even clip a web page, add collaborators, and then begin discussing. Follow the progress of all the discussions using the activity stream and receive instant email notification of new additions.

In the Classroom

Use Marqueed in science class for students to identify parts of plants, features of landforms, or astronomical items such as comets and stars. Upload a map image and have students collaborate to locate items of interest. Upload groups of images for students to compare and contrast, share with students for use on group projects, or add images from different time periods for use in history class. World language teachers can have students label images for assessment, and ESL/ELL students can use this for practicing vocabulary words. The possibilities are endless!

Choosing color schemes for web pages, projects, and displays becomes easier with Color Schemer! Click on any color in the color bar at the bottom of the page to view a display of compatible colors along with hex and font color numbers for HTML use. Choose "lighten scheme" or "darken scheme" to adjust and personalize colors as desired.

In the Classroom

After sharing and teaching students how to use this resource, create a link to the Color Schemer on your class web page for student use with projects, displays, and more. Share with your school's art teacher as an excellent resource for artwork.

Common Core Conversations is your place to find Common Core resources. The Standards, Resources from state education departments, free resources in all subject areas, using tech tools for learning the standards, and a section for parent information provides a great basis for your Common Core needs. Resources include: ESL/ELL, library, careers, family and consumer sciences. Join the online community to join in the conversations.

In the Classroom

Common Core Conversations provides ideas and resources to assure your lessons contain Common Core Standards necessities. Investigate a resource for yourself every week or to share at your professional growth development. Be sure to document your new ideas under professional growth for your evaluation. When hosting professional growth development, begin here.

Discover a large collection of free to use images for presentations, slide shows, reports, and more at Free Tiiu Pix. The creator of this site designed all images available. Go to the image gallery to browse images sorted by categories. The categories range from Architecture, Food, Animals, Insects, Plants and more. Right click to save images or choose optional links for different resolution sizes. In addition to the image gallery, be sure to check out the slide presentation gallery including visually appealing PowerPoint presentations on many topics. There is also a link to Learn How to Draw Your Own Clip Art with free clip art to use. These are FREE to use. However, be sure to read and understand the Terms of Use! Note: you must be 18 to use this site. So while this is an excellent site for teachers to find resources, this shouldn't be shared with students to use independently.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Bookmark Free Tiiu Pix to access images for any presentation. Create multimedia presentations for your subject or any presentation for staff or parents using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. Be sure to share Free Tiiu Pix with other teachers on your campus.

See these free Common Core resources and materials, sample lesson plans, and book lists to help you implement the Common Core Standards with success! English Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, and Science lesson plans span K-12. Detailed plans include teaching nonfiction within integrated content areas. Find detailed book lists by grade level, literature titles, or professional development areas. News and Resources include articles describing a variety of concerns teachers face in today's classroom including, using one iPad in a classroom, reaching every reader, math Common Core tips, and much more. Get answers to some frequently asked questions involving Common Core. Get back to the basics of Common Core through the explanatory sites. Expert videos highlight important aspects of using Common Core Standards. The Editor's Corner gives full units that span the range of the grades with titles such as War Stories, Poetry; Explore the Power of Words, and Life, Death, and Stories in Between. Still have a burning question? Submit your question and get an emailed response. Join the conversation with educators discussing different aspects of Common Core. A parent Common Core Area uses the Common Core Basics, News and Resources, and a list of books to use by grade level. The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site on your computer! Find answers to all of your questions with resources to challenge your students. Share in your professional learning communities with a different area each meeting. Document your professional development growth for your evaluation. Need to explain Common Core to parents? Begin here!

In the Classroom

Need to find quick activities for a special holiday in your class? Find ready-made activities to use during center time, class celebrations, or special reward time on your interactive whiteboard. After school programs can easily use activities for all different interests during holiday times.

In the Classroom

Add this site to your lesson plans to use for Thanksgiving. Introduce activities on your interactive whiteboard. Bookmark these games at your classroom computers to used during center time. Use as an incentive to promote positive behavior. Post a link on your class webpage for students to use at home.

In the Classroom

Add this site to your lesson plans to use for fall. Introduce these simple activities on your interactive whiteboard. Bookmark these games at your classroom computers to used during center time. Use as an incentive to promote positive behavior.

The Baltimore Museum of Art offers resources for educators to support classroom curriculum and enhance student learning across disciplines. Museum featured artwork provides the content for detailed lessons. The online images contain background information on the artist, other pieces of that time, and content connections to curriculum. The areas of concentration for the lessons are: Young America, Symbol of the New Republic, Made in Maryland, Western Perspectives, Unity in Diversity, The Art in Technology, Picturing Memory, and Shaping New Traditions. Activity sheets contain directions for projects to make such as: an animal stool inspired by the Lozi people, Recoloring Camouflage, and Inkblot pictures inspired by Andy Warhol, Cezanne, Matisse, Poster activity by Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Matisse, and French Line Drawings. View Multimedia Presentations about Frans Hals, Raphael, Chinese wall hanging, Albrecht Durer, among many others. Finally, a series of prints contain background information on the subject and the artist that allow further study. Sign up for Art to Go monthly email that contains a printable full-color image of an artwork at the Baltimore Museum of Art. A brief commentary focuses on teaching ideas, while the challenge project invites students to try this idea and bring it into their own style.

In the Classroom

Have you been trying to incorporate different sources into your social studies content? Use the content areas found in this collection. In gifted classrooms, use these activities for choice enrichment activities to deepen content knowledge. Use the artwork to inspire a narrative or informative writing prompt. The free printable color images will decorate your classroom. Art classes have immediate lesson plans. Use as a quick lesson in case of a sub. When going on a trip to your local museum, begin by investigating the content found in Baltimore Museum of Art. Assign students to uncover the mystery of artwork in your own museum to increase interest and motivation on your visit. Students then work on a multimedia project, find one for them to use here, of what they discovered and present it to the class.

Explore an Inventor's Workshop through the eyes of Leonardo da Vinci. Choose from different parts of the toolbox to discover elements of machines, gadget anatomy, and play Leonardo's Mysterious Machinery. Other portions of the workshop take viewers deeper into the world of Leonardo by providing perspective on Renaissance times, exploring his special way of writing, and discovering Leonardo's activities in different Italian cities.

In the Classroom

This site is perfect for use on your interactive whiteboard. Explore the different portions together during your studies of the Renaissance, inventors, or artists such as Leonardo da Vinci. Share a link to this site on your class webpage for students to explore at home, or add a link on classroom computers for use during computer centers. Have students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about Leonardo da Vinci or other Renaissance artists.

PhotoCat is a free online photo editing service. Edit and retouch images easily. Make photo collages in just a few simple steps. Upload any image from your computer. If the image is too large PhotoCat will ask to reduce it automatically. Choose from the many options such as special effects, retouching tools, frames, text, and more. Once completed save your image to your computer or share using social networking links.

In the Classroom

Use this tool anytime that photos need to be edited for use on class blogs, wikis, or in presentation tools (reviewed here). In primary grades, this tool could be useful for teachers to use to edit pictures from a field trip, science experiments, and more. Share the editing process with your younger students using your interactive whiteboard or projector. Edit together! Encourage older students to use this site themselves on images for projects or presentations. Use this tool in photography or art classes. Use the editor to edit pictures to fit styles of pictures when doing historical reports or to set a mood. Use text options for the photos themselves to tell the stories. Have students annotate or label Creative Commons online images of cells, structures of an animal, and much more.

Planet Nutshell offers a small selection of animated videos for preschool students. Topics include art, music, patterns, and time. Each video is under two minutes in length, perfect for use with young students with short attention spans!

In the Classroom

Use social networking links to share videos with parents and guardians. Introduce new topics using these short videos or as enrichment between other lessons. Include a link on your class website or newsletter for parents to share at home.

PBS Kids offers a large selection of interactive whiteboard activities exploring different curriculum topics. All activities are related to their popular TV characters. Scroll through to find resources sorted by math, language arts, social science, and the arts. Each activity includes a short description and suggested grade level. Find activities for sight words, vocabulary, estimation, measurement, civics, gravity, and much more. Click on any link to go directly to the activity or download.

In the Classroom

Use activities from this site on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to supplement current lessons. Create a link to specific activities on classroom computers for use as a learning center. Allow students to explore these sites on individual computers. Share links to games and activities on your class web page for students to try at home.